� 1999 Medical Tribune News Service
CHICAGO�Physicians may be able to discontinue prophylaxis against
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in HIV-infected patients who have a
sustained immunologic response to highly active antiretroviral therapy
(HAART), according to study data reported here last month.
The study, conducted in Spain, enrolled 332 patients receiving HAART who
previously had a CD4-cell count lower than 200 cells/ml or a prior PCP
episode. All patients also were receiving PCP prophylaxis; for 95 percent
of them, the drug was trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Researchers randomly
assigned 171 subjects to discontinue prophylaxis (group 1) and 161 to
continue (group 2). At entry into the study, groups 1 and 2 had mean
CD4-cell counts of 375 cells/ml and 362 cells/ml, respectively. Duration
of HAART response and number of months receiving PCP prophylaxis were
similar in both groups. After a mean followup of 6.4 months for group 1
and 6.9 months for group 2, no PCP episodes occurred in either group,
researchers reported at the 6th Conference on Retroviruses and
Opportunistic Infections.
March 18, 1999
� 1999 Medical Tribune
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